Process of producing orthopedic shoes and product thereof



June 21, 1938- A. E. MURRAY- I I 2,120,987

' PRGCE'SS 0F imonucme ORTHOPEDIC suon AND PRODUCT THEREOF Filed Aug.) 6, 1935 5 Sheets-Shet 1- INVIENTVOR I ATTOz EY V June 21, 1938. A. E. MURRAY rhocss's OF rnonucme ORTHOPEDIG' SHOE AND raonucw THEREOF- Filed Aug. 6, 1935 s Sheets-Sheet La N R O T T A June 21,1938. A. El MURRAY PROCESS OF, rnonpcme ORTHOPEDIC .saon 1mm rnonucq: THEREOF Filed Aug. e, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR AfiORNE! PatentedJune 21, 1938 UNITED STATES PROCESS OF PRODUCING ORTHOPEDIO SHOES AND PRODUCT THEREOF 'Alan E. Murray, New York, N. Y. Application August a, 1935. Serial no; 34,888

4 Claims.

My invention relates particularly to a process of producing a shoe adapted to lit and support the foot or some part thereof, as well as the product thereof.

The object of my invention is to provide a process of obtaining a shoe or slipper or some portion thereof, which has a shape and size conforming substantially to the contours of the foot so as to form an effective support for the same, and it relates to the products which may be obtained thereby. More particularly, the'obiect is to provide a method whereby a, shoe or slipper or some portion thereof may be provided having a surface which is the approximately exact complement of the surface of the foot or some portion thereof, in form or size, or both. Further objects of my invention will appear from the detailed description of the same hereinafter.

While my invention is capable of being carried out in many different ways, so as to produce many different articles therefrom, in the accompanying drawings I have shown only certain methods of accomplishing the same and certain of the products which may be obtained thereby, in which- Fig. 1 is an elevation showing the marking of the foot in the first step of the process for making the shoe, etc.;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the position of the foot and leg while suspended as hereinafter described during the molding operation;

Fig. 2a is an elevation of a foot showing the casings in which the different castings are made;

Fig. 3 is an elevation showing the positive of the foot made in the molding process;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of an all-rigid slipper made therefrom and mounted on front and rear supports or stilts;

Fig. 5 is a view of the same slipper shown as applied to a roller-skate without the stilts;

Fig. 6 is an underneath view of the heel-piece adapted to be used in a shoe as a corrective arch support; b

Fig. '1 is an elevation 01 a toe-piece adapted to be used in shoes for toe dancers;

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of a slipper madeof a heel-piece and toe-piece hinged together with a flat spring and flexible joint;

Fig. 9 is a similar view showing an interposed hard section opposite the ball of the foot, to which the heel-piece and toe-piece are each independently hinged;

Fig. 10 is an underneath view of the same;

Fig. 11 is a fragmental plane view showing the socket form of hinge of Figs. 9 and 10;

Fig. 12 is a plan view of a shoe made with the slipper of Fig. 8 incorporated therein;

Fig. 13 is a perspective view of a shoe made similarly but with a considerable number of separable hard parts joined together by flexible parts;

Fig. 14 is a side elevation of an all-hard slipper comprised of a metal skate with a vuicanite slipper vulcanized thereto and having a plurality of .lackets around the same and laced over the oo Fig. 15 is a similar side elevation but showing a dlfierent way of attaching the upper to the slipper; a

Fig. 16 is a vertical section showing another method of attaching the slipper to the upper;

and

Fig. 17 is a cross-section of the type of construction such as is shown, for example, in any one of the Figs. 14, 15, and 16, with the lining materials present therein, which, of course, are entirely optional.

In the drawings, in carrying the most important procedure is to obtain a correct impression of the foot. For this purpose it must be realized that the foot is soft and pliant in many of its parts and in order to obtain an out iny invention,

' impression of the foot without the latter being deformed it is desired to obtain an impression without exerting any deforming pressure on the foot from the molding materials. For this'purpose, therefore, as shown in Fig. 1, the patient I is made to stand erect on the floor near a table or chair on which he rests his two hands. He then stands with his. weight on the foot, ot which the impression is to be made, the other foot touching the floor lightly but carrying very little weight. The operator may make any adjustment of the arch of the foot by inserting a small amount of molding clay under the arch. The sensationin the 'foot is now considered as an aid in obtaining a normal placement of the arch and at its natural height. The appearance of the body and leg can be taken into consideration in bringing this about. When the patient's arch is thus placed the patient is told to assume, accurately, a vertical standing position, standing on the said foot of which the impression is to be made. With an ordinary square 2, one arm of which rests horizontally against the floor and the other arm of which is then moved so that its edge is in line with the Achilles tendon, a vertical line 3 is drawn with an indelible pencil on the foot down the tendon and. over the heel to the floor. This indelible line will be found to be imprinted in the cast to be made of the foot, as

hereinafter described. In this way the slipper or shoe made therefrom can be placed at exactly the right angle under the foot with regard to the supports of ti e shoe or slipper under the heel and sole. Thus, the sole and heel, for example, will be at right angles to the vertical line 3. Of course, if desired, lifting or correction of a flat arch can be secured by pressing the arch higher with the molding clay before the vertical line 3 is drawn. The patient, with the heel so marked, will now sit on a stool 4 which is provided with an adjustable U-shaped leg cradle 5 swiveled to the top of a screw 6 which has at its lower end an operating handle 1, the said screw being threaded in a screw socket 8 carried on an arm 9 attached to the side of the stool. A pan I is placed beneath the foot, said pan Ill having two transversely removable straight stiff wires II and I2 which extend through holes in the sides of the pan III at such a difference in height from the floor, respectively, as to allow for the inclination of the bottom of the foot to the horizontal when in a shoe having a sole and heel. The leg is then lowered by the screw handle I until the heel of the foot just touches the wire ll without resting thereon, and the foot will rest lightly against the wire l2. Prior to 'the first pouring operation the front part of the pan I0 is filled in with a mass 13 of plastic molding clay so as to occupy the front part of the pan II) forwardly of the ball of the foot. If necessary, the cradle can now be readjusted in case there has been found to be an error in the initial placing of the foot so that the patient feels that his foot just lightly touches the wire II and rests lightly against the wire ii. A liquid or plastic material, comprised of plaster of Paris mixed with water to a consistency of a fiowable material, or which. instead, may be comprised of any liquid that will set under ordinary temperatures, will then flow around the foot to the level of the highest part of the under-cut line, that is, theirregular line around the side of the foot where the downward and inward curvatures of the foot meet the upward and inward curvatures of the foot. The foot is then removed when the plaster has partly set and after the molding material is cut down to the undercut line. The wires ii and I2 can now be withdrawn and if the wires have left any marks, these can be eliminated to make the contours exactly correct where the wires were located. At the same time the inner edge of the molded material can be beveled by dishing downwardly and inwardly within the pan Ill. The second pouring operation can now take place. For this purpose the foot is re-inserted in the same position in the mold and at this time the body of molding clay l3 from the ball of the foot forward is removed and instead a. smaller body of plastic molding clay l3a is inserted in the pan l0 merely at the end thereof, and just extending around the end of the pan above and below the toes of the patient, to build up for the second pouring a wall of removable clay which can be later removed for the third pouring. At this time, if desired, corrections can be made in the positions of the' toes to correct for'any deformities therein. Also, an amount of rise that takes place in using the toes in walking, skating, etc., can be taken into account by adjusting the toes upwardly somewhat, if desired, according to the use to which the slipper is to be put, as, for example, in walking, skating, etc. The second body of the thin liquid plaster of Paris made as 'above, is now poured into the pan l0 between the wall l3a of the molding clay and the first body of plaster of Paris which has set. This second body of plaster of Paris which'extends up to the new wall of molding material I311 is then allowed to set and the patient again removes his foot, a sloping plane or beveling being made in the second body of plaster of Paris as was madedn the case of the first body of plaster of Paris, the same sloping down to the undercut line, above referred to, on the foot, from the edge of the pan. The third pouring is now in order. For this purpose the body of molding material He added to form the wall opposite the toes is removed. The third body of thin liquid plaster of Paris is now poured in opposite the toes with the foot in the mold,

which is then allowed to set, the foot being removed and the plaster of Paris beveled substantially as before. The three bodies of plaster of Paris will be found to have completely coalesced,

although, if desired, adjacent surfaces may be roughened to strengthen the joint between the second and third pourings. If desired, the second and third pourings may be accomplished at the same time, especially in the case of normal feet. Also, if desired, still further similar pourings and similar adjustments can take place. If preferred, a cutting down to the undercut line and bevelling can be done for all of these castings, simultaneously prior to the fourth and fifth pourings. The patient can now stand on the hardened cast to fully test it. If desired, the ends of the toes of the cast can be scraped out larger and repoured. In case of deformities, even the standing of the patient in the cast so made will be found to have a marked orthopedic value and would be very beneficial when repeated from day to day. In order to obtain a complete impression of the foot it is necessary to take an impression of the upper heel section as well as the upper surface of the foot. For this purpose the mold which has been obtained as above is greased at the edge with Vaseline or some other separating material. A hollow heel section I I with a vertical front end as shown in Fig. 2a is now applied, fitting around the top of the rear portion of the pan ill and a dam of plastic molding clay is built up along the sides of the ankle along and in front of vertical lines, passing through the center of the large ankle joint. The heel section of a fourth pouring of the same plaster of Paris liquid material is then poured in and allowed to set. Thereafter the same procedure is followed by casting against the upper portion of the foot, the edges of the upper heel-piece of the cast, if present, being greased or faced with separating material. For the molding of the upper part of the foot an upper hollow section IS with a rear vertical end is applied above the pan l0 and if the heel casting is not present, temporary dams of plastic molding material are built up at the free ends thereof along and to the rear of the same vertical lines, passing through the middle of the main ankle joint. A fifth pouring of the same kind of liquid plaster of Paris is then poured into the section l5, which is also allowed to set. A three-piece shell, containing an exact reproduction of the contours of the foot or modified as intended by the operator, is thus obtained in the form of a negative. A positive can now be obtained from this by pouring any suitable material into the same. The shape of this positive can be altered to slightly enlarge the toe section, where desired, by coating with a layer of wax or any other suitable material. Also, any excessive detail between the toes can be obliterated in this manner. It has been found, by experience, that a slight enlargement with respect to the length.

- raised line on the positive, providing a permanent record. From a master positive duplicates can be made in the same way as the negative was made from the original foot, although in this case no suspension is necessary, and negative forms from any of such positives may be made by swedging, molding or vulcanizing, as to any part or all of the parts of the foot formed, from metal, vulcanite or any other desired material. These may be very thin, if desired, especially if they are made of metal. Such thin forms, made of any desired material, when made in the form of a slipper in one or a plurality of parts, will preferably have the upper edge extending to a height slightly above but preferably, paralleling, the undercut line, and when so made the slipper will stay on the foot securely without any other securing means whatever.

If desired, the outer forms of the complete shoe can be built up outside of the one or more thin negative forms obtained as above, as to the whole or different-parts of the foot formed, by molding the shoe with said thin negative foot form parts of hard material molded into plastic and flexible material, as shown, for example, in Fig. 13. For this purpose the positive foot forms could be taken as the core on which to mold the shoe and the plastic material to make the shoe form might be any synthetic composition containing, for example, cotton linters and rubber, or any other composition used in making flexible shoe materials. I

The forms made in accordance with my invention may be utilized and appliedin many different ways. For example, I may make of hard vulcanite a single piece slipper H to which the usual skate fixture |8 may be vulcanized as in Fig. 14 to the front and rear of the slipper but on the axial balance line of the foot preferably, although, if desired, in this instance the skate fixture axis may be slightly nearer the center of the body than the line 3 above referred to. These slippers will stay securely on the feet without any other securing means than that their edge is slightly above the undercut foot-line. Instead of the skate fixture I8 I may apply thereto stanchions l9 and 20, thus making a set of mules, which will be found useful in correcting abnormal conditions of the foot, and useful in many other ways, as the patient can exercise or walk while the slipper fully supports every portion of the foot to the best advantage. Instead, I may make, also, if desired, a metal heel plate support 2| which extends from the heel to the ball of the foot and conforms completely to the shape thereof, as desired, and as above pointed out, especially with regard to the arch of the foot, and this-heelplate may have a height up to the undercut line, but. preferably below that line, that is to say merely up to the top of the callous or pad of the foot. This height and margin tends to hold it in place against the foot. jThis heel plate 2| may be provided on the under-surface thereof with a ring-shaped body of vulcanite 22 having varying thicknesses at the two sides thereof, chosen so as to support the heel of the foot on the heel plate 2| withinany shoe in which the plate 2| is placed, so asto secure the position of the heel of the foot obtained in making the vertical line 3. However, this body 22 may be omitted and then the plate 2| would have a three point suspension, one at the heel and the other two at the front of the plate which may be bent, as desired, to tilt the plate to the position of the enclosing shoe.

Again, if desired, I may make a toe-piece 23 similarly on said positive which encloses the toes of the foot and which, if desired, may have a small flat circular supporting plate 24 welded to the metal of the toe-piece 23 so that when used for toe dancing the flat piece 24 will be parallel with the floor when the toe dancer's foot is in its normal position in toe dancing. Again, if desired, I may make a slipper 25, as shown in Fig. 8, comprising the two parts 2| and. 23 similar to the said parts above described but ending on their adjacent edges as shown in Fig. 8 and hinged together by means of a torsional hinge 26 in the form of a flat steel spring having riveting or welding 21 for securing the parts together. Opposite to the spring 26 there is, furthermore, secured to the two parts 2| and 23, in any desired manner, a zone of flexible material 28, such, for instance, as soft rubber or rubber containing cotton linters, -et c. As shown in Fig. 9, I may make the same kind of a slipper, except in this instance having the ball of the foot resting on a third section 29 of the same hard material, as

metal for example, and on which there are slightly torsional hinges 30 and 3| shown in detail in Fig. 11, and except that there are two inserts 32 and 33 of the same kind of soft material as the material 28. Another kind of hinge that can be used in either form shown in Fig. 8 or the form in Fig. 9, is the form shown in detail in Fig. 11, in which the toe-piece 23, for example, has a socket 34 into which there is received a tongue 35 extending from the heel-piece 2|. As shown in Fig. 12, the slipper constructed as indicated in Fig. 8 may be embodied in a shoe 36 having an enclosing upper 31 molded of any desired flexible material around the heel and toe supports 2| and 23, as above described. It will be understood, as shown in Fig. 13, that the number of these hard parts, conforming to the foot shape and size, may

be greatly increased in the shoe, such as in Fig.

12, and hard inserts 38, 39, 40, 4|, 42, 43, 44, 45, and 46 may be molded into the shoe together with an upper 41 of the same flexible material as the material 28, 32, 33, and 31. In this instance a flat sole 48, having ventilating holes .4811 leading to the inside of the shoe, and a fiat heel 49 are provided perpendicular to the line 3 so as to obtain the exact required balance of the foot. Again, as shown in Fig. 14, the hard vulcanite slipper l1 may be vulcanized by any suitable wellknown attaching method within a metal slipper 50, also made to conform to the outside of the slipper by any method above described, and whichis welded to an ice skate 5|. While the fit of the vulcanite slipper H to the foot is so complete that a sock of any ordinary thickness may be inserted therein without exerting undesirable pressure on the foot, with or without such a sock the skater may readily skate with his foot in the slipper l1 without the need of any uppers whatsoever thereon. However, if desired, leather uppers, in the form of three pieces 52,

skate and the foot of the wearer, the same hav- 53, and 54, v may be used, extending completely around the ing lacing holes 55, by means of which all three of the parts 52, 53, and 54 may be laced together in the usual way. Many other ways of attaching uppers may be provided, if desired. For example, in Fig. 15 I have shown the vulcanized slipper I! having attached thereto an upper 56 of leather or other suitable material, having eyelets 51 into which lacings may extend and thence into angular holes 58 in a shoulder 59 on the slipper [1 at successive points around the slipper l1. Instead, if desired, as shown in Fig. 16, the upper 56 may have a bead 60 around its edge adapted to fit within a channel 6| located around the hard vulcanite slipper l1, provided with a soft rubber upper edge 62, and of such a size as to just permit the head 60 to be squeezed in As shown in Fig. 17, I may provide any of the constructions hereinaboveand out of the recess.

referred'to and more particularly the construction shown in Figs. 14 to 16, with any suitable lining, which, in this figure, is shown as applied to the skate having the metal slipper 50 welded thereto, here shown without the vulcanite slipper I! which may not be present and on either side of which there may be located felt layers 63 and 64, the felt layer 63 being overlaid inside the slipper with a cloth layer 65 and the layer 64 being overlaid on the outside with a leather layer 66.

In fact it will be seen that by providing the shoe with a plurality of hard portions conforming to the shape of the human foot and with interconnected soft or flexible parts, the slipper or shoe can be adapted to the making of either custom or ready-made shoes. For instance, once a set of dies is made for a person, any number of duplicates can be made of the shoe or slipper and at an extraordinarily low cost. Also, by making up a number of sizes and shapes of the different individual hard parts, these parts can be made into a great many different combinations of different sizes and shapes so that therefrom a wide range of shoes can be made with the parts united together with the flexible material and yet such as to far better fit the feet of the public than can be accomplished by the present practice of only making a very limited number of sizes which vary little or not at all in shape for the ready-made shoe trade. In fact, if desired, a theoretically required series of sizes and shapes of each of the different hardparts of a shoe may be made, adapted to fit the ideal feet of different sizes, or a set of ideal feet of different sizes, and thereby eflective adaptations of ready-made shoes to the feet of the public couldbe obtained. The range of materials used in the construction could be very extensive. In addition to those above named, the hard parts, in many instances, could be made of stainless steel or cast chromium cobalt composition, which would be especially useful in connection with the toe-pieces for toe-dancers, the

same being well known as a dental metal under the name of vitallum. In fact almost any hard materials could be used for the hard parts and any flexible soft materials with suflicient wear and which could be joined effectively to the hard parts, could be used. The uppers, of course, could be of leather or any other shoe material. It will be readily seen, in fact, that the entire slipper, if desired, could be made out of any suitable semi-hard yet flexible substance or composition capable of being set or molded into the desired form, as, for instance, a steam-hose fabric impregnated with vulcanizible rubber or any other form-holding substance. Any other usual fastening means could, of course, be used instead of the eyelaces, wherever they appear above.

It will be found that none of the slippers or shoes as above referred to, requires any linings as, due to the contour, the needed softness or its equivalent in comfort, is provided for.

All of these sandal shoes and portions thereof made as above, have such a fit as to constitute a corrective and preventative for many ills of the feet. For example, it is found that the forms made as above have normally a deep hollow shape at the ball of the foot and that the arch of the foot is hollowed much more deeply in conformation to the usual foot than in the usual type of shoes. These facts, for instance, have the advantage of preventing the foot from sliding within the shoe made in accordance with my invention.

While I have described my invention above in detail I wish it to be understood that many changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the same.

I claim:

1. The method of constructing a skate and shoe combination which comprises conforming a rigid slipper exactly to the contours of a cast of the foot when in normal position and unsupported from below at the heel, securing a skate to the underside of said slipper, and constructing a shoe embodying said slipper as a part thereof.

2. The method of constructing a shoe which comprises conforming a rigid slipper exactly to the contours of a cast of the foot when in normal position and unsupported from below at the heel, and constructing a shoe embodying said slipper as a part thereof.

3. An orthopedic shoe constructed about a rigid slipper having its walls conforming exactly to the shape of the foot when in normal position and unsupported from below at the heel.

4. A combined orthopedic shoe and skate comprising a shoe constructed about a .rigid slipper having its walls conforming exactly to the shape of the foot when in normal position and unsupported from below at the heel and a skate fastened directly .to. said rigid slipper.

. ALAN E. MURRAY. 

